Assignment Module - 6

Shafaq Qaiser

D18133
Q1. How do we give the concept of grass letters, root letters, and sky
letters to the child?

Grass, root, and sky letters

The lower case or small letters of the alphabets have different shapes and are
“positioned” differently when written on the four lined paper. The children in a
Montessori classroom are shown how to differentiate between them according to
their shape and position on the four lines by giving separate names to similar
shaped and position of the letters In order to improve child’s awareness
regarding the shape and position of the alphabets on the line, the child is
introduced to sorting exercises. The exercise which gives the child the concept of
grass letters, root letters and sky letters actually prepares the child indirectly for
writing on paper since the child gets a clear concept of the place and position of
each alphabet on the line.

The children are introduced to the proper placement of alphabets using

equidistant four lines. A large mat with four lines equidistant lines made on it
with the help of ribbons or other such material mounted on it to make straight
lines is used. The top and bottom lines are pink and the two center lines are
aquamarine/blue (as on primary writing paper).

Early childhood and Learning

The successful environment for the language is created at home by the mothers
and the caregivers. Reading aloud for the child at home, gives the message to
the child that reading is a fun for him. Reading the story books for the child by
his mother at home makes the meaning clear and he knows how to use the word
with the sense in his language. The child also builds his vocabulary unconsciously
through listening to the story books from his mother which would never come up
in spoken language. Although reading and writing should not be taught to a child
before the age of six or seven, yet he is introduced to the concept of reading and
writing by giving the sensorial experiences of appropriate materials and
sometimes as early as three or four years of age. Since 99% of written language
is in lower case letters. In the Montessori classroom and at home the child
should be taught firstly with the small alphabet rather than capital (“a” and “b,”
not “A” and “B”). During the introduction of the small alphabet to the child the
sounds are pronounced instead of the words. In order to teach them letters, a
teacher should categorize into few groups.

 Grass letters (body letters)

 Sky letters (head letters)
 Root letters (tail letters)

Grass letters
Letters which fit exactly between the two blue middle lines for example,
‘a’, ‘c’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’, etc. are known as the grass letters.
Sky Letters

Letters having a stem which goes up to the pink line are called sky letters,
for example, ‘b’, ‘d’, ‘h’, ‘k’ etc. are known as the sky letters.

Root Letters

Letters having a stem which goes down to the pink line at the bottom for
example, ‘g’, ‘j’, ‘p’, ‘q’, ‘y’ etc. are known as root letters.
There is one more effective way to teach about all letters. Draw a sea horse or a
big cat between four lines on the black board / white board. Letters that can
touch the head of cat is called sky (head) leters. Letters those can touch the
body of cat is called grass (body) letters. At the last those who can touch the tail
of cat is known as root (tail) letters.
 Q2. Write a detailed note on Montessori green boards and writing on
paper exercises.

Green boards
The Green Boards are an extension of the sandpaper letter lessons. First, the
teacher gives the child one-on-one lessons with three sandpaper letters at a time
until the child is familiar with all the letters. Then the child is able to play games
with the letters, such as guessing which letter the teacher is tracing in the air,
writing the letters in sand, or tracing a letter blindfolded, making the sound of it,
and having a friend verify the correct sound. The next step is for the child to
work with the Green Boards, which contain several letters on each board.

Purpose of Green Boards

The purpose of the Green Boards is to help children understand the relationships
between the written letters – all the letters of a similar formation are grouped
together on one Green Board. This is how I grouped the letters (keep in mind
that the letters are in cursive on the Green Boards):

c o a d g

q i u w

n m v x y

zsrjp

elbfhk

My Language manual’s description of the Green Boards is that they are similar to
the sandpaper letters in terms of the size of the letter and the fact that the
letters are made of sand, to be traced by the child. Instead of on red boards
(consonants) or blue boards (vowels), they are all on, waiting for it… green
boards.
Materials for Chalkboard Work

 Small tray, large enough to make a sandpaper letter.

 Tray with chalk in a holder, an eraser, a dust clothe, and a hand cloth.
 The second board has one side ruled in squares and the other ruled in
horizontal lines.
 The first board is blank on one side and ruled to guide the placement of
letters on the other side.
 Set of green chalkboards 32cm x 50cm each.
 Enough sand in the tray to cover the bottom
 Sandpaper letters and numerals
 Tray with chalk in a holder, an eraser, a dust clothe, and a hand cloth.
 The second board has one side ruled in squares and the other ruled in
horizontal lines.
 The first board is blank on one side and ruled to guide the placement of
letters on the other side.
 Preparatory Exercise
 Invite one child to come and work with you.
 You and the child choose one sandpaper letter and bring it to the table
 Then go and get the tray of sand and place it to the right of the sandpaper
letter.
 Trace the sandpaper letter. Repeat two to three times.
 Tell the child that you are going to trace a letter in the tray.
 Move the tablet over the left.
 Slide the tray in the front of you and trace the same letter into the sand.
  Show the child that you have made the same letter. Show the child how to
“make it disappear” by gently shaking the tray from side to side but
keeping the tray on the table. Child can continue making the letter in the
sand.
 Have the child trace the sandpaper letter and then make the letter in the
sand.

Once he is comfortable tracing the letter in the sand, he can than work on stylus
and writes few of the letters in the sand he is ready to begin with the chalkboard
work.

Presentation 1: Blank Board

Material

Blank board and chalk tray

Sandpaper letters

Presentation Invite one child to come and work with you

Tell him that you will be using something to help us to write

Introduce the child to the chalkboard and have him carry it to the table.

Then have him bring the box with the eraser etc and place it in the middle of the
chalkboard.

Then have the child to choose a sandpaper letter.

Then have the child to sit to your left.

Take out all the material and place it above the chalkboard.

Trace a sandpaper letter a few times

Use a chalk and write the sandpaper letter multiple times on the board in the
straight horizontal line.

Erase the letters written in an up to down, left to right.

Use the dust cloth and wipe board.

Take a terry cloth and clean it.

Move everything over so the child can write the same sandpaper letter.

If the child can seems every letter with comfortable zone, show then next letter.

Encourage the child to continue the practice from time to time.

Exercise This game is to be done in a group. The directress would have the
children sit in a circle around the mat. She would then hand over the material.
The children hold the cube behind their back and fell them. The directress would
then ask for the largest cube to be placed on the mat. By feeling their cube, the
children are being asked to feel for the recognition of the sizes of the cubes.
Continue asking for certain cubes working your way from the biggest cube to the
smallest cube, until all the cubes have been placed on the mat.

Presentation 2: Square Board Material

Chalkboard with squares and chalk tray

Sandpaper letters

Presentation

Some children will find doing the whole board too much, so the child can build
up to it as they are ready

 The child may choose to make the same letter over the entire board. Or
she may choose to have a different letter for each row.
  The same letter will be repeated across the row.
 Following the same procedure, show the child how to write a single letter
or numeral in a square.

Exercise Child works with the board as shown

Presentation

 Show the child how to place the body of a letter between the two lines
and show how the stem goes above the line and the tail goes below.
 Sandpaper letters Presentation As before
 Double guide line board and chalk tray
 Q3 what are the upper case letters? How do we introduce them to the
child?

Materials

Three sets of twenty six cards, one for each letter of the alphabet.

The first set is 8x10cm and each card has one letter written in the lower case.

The second set is 98cmx10cm and each card has one letters written in the upper
case (capital letters).

Presentation

Lay out all of the lower case letters at random in vertical columns, leaving
sufficient space to put the The third set is 16cmx10cm and has one letter written
in both the lower and upper cases, the lowers case letter on the left and the
upper case letter on the right.

 capital letters beside them.

 When the child is sure of those, continue with three at a time, until you
have completed all of the letters.
 Teach the new terms with the Three Period lessons. Be sure to use
the terms “upper case” and “capital letter” alternatively.
 Repeat for two more letters.
 Show the upper case and give the term. Also give the term “capital letter”
 Show the lower case first and use this term.
 If the child gives you the sound, affirm it but go back to using their names.
 Use the names of the letters in this lesson.
 Choose three letters for the initial presentation, where the capital letters
looks a great deal like the lower case letter.
 Introduce the material to the child and have him bring it over to the table.
 Invite one child to come and work with you.
 Collect the lower case letters in alphabetical order.
 Replace the third set of cards.
  Once all upper case letters have been placed, check with the third set of
cards.
 Give the child the upper case letters (one at a time) and have him place
each next to the lower case letter. Discuss now and then if the capital
letter looks that same or looks different to the lower case letter. Use both
terms alternatively for the upper case letters.
 Collect the upper case letters in alphabetical order.

Exercise

 The child works with the material as shown. Purpose Direct

 To help the child recognize the upper case form of the letter he already
knows in the lower case.
 To aid the punctuation of a sentence. Indirect
 To help the child write. Control of Error.
 The card showing both lower and upper case for each letter.
 Age 5 years and onward.
 4. How do we introduce the concept of noun, article, adjective and verb
to the child with the help of farm environment?

Materials

Collection of objects/animals.

Nouns (black),

Verbs (red),

Articles (grey)

Adjectives (royal blue),

Colour-coded grammar cards

Objective To learn, through the cards, the grammatical structure of phrases

and sentences.

Presentation-1 introduces the child to the box and allows him/her to set up the
farm and discuss the objects and what the various animals are doing. This is
very good for second language children and language-delayed children as it
gives them the opportunity to explore in an unpressurised environment.

Presentation-2 When the child has worked with the early grammar noun cards,
you can introduce him/her to the noun cards in the farm. Ask the child to set up
farm and take out the black cards, the naming cards. She/he can then read the
first card and either place it against the object, or bring the object down to the
card.

if the child is enthralled by an object and wants to start with that particular one,
do not worry. It just means that the child has to read more cards as s/he has to
read through the pile to find the appropriate card.

Presentation-3 Again, once the child has worked with the early grammar
adjective cards; you can introduce him/her to the adjective cards in the farm
box, showing him/her how to place the adjective cards in front of the noun cards
(revision of noun and adjective game). The child reads the noun card, finds the
object and is asked to read through the adjective cards to find a word that
describes the object, e.g., ‘plump’ to go with ‘piglet’. At this point, you can also
introduce the first set of article cards in lower case, showing the child how to
place this in front of the adjective Card. The child then puts the cards at the
bottom of their respective piles, reads the next noun card ‘man’, looks through
the adjective cards and finds ‘strong’, e.g., ‘the strong man’. The child continues
using the cards in this way.
5. Prepare material of the following and send along with the
assignment.

Logical Adjective Game Logical Adverb Game Noun Cards Adjective

Cards Verb Cards

Logical Adjective Game

Logical Adverb Game
Noun Cards
Adjective Cards
Beautiful girl

Strong boy

Ugly dog

Rough surface
Verb Cards